UPJ conference focusses on the future

THE launch of a new siddur and finding ways to engage Generation Y were high on the agenda of the 80th anniversary biennial conference of the Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ).

The November 25-28 event in Canberra, filled with Jewish music and dance, and including Shabbat worship at the ACT Jewish Community Centre from the newly launched Mishkan T’filah siddur, drew 180 delegates from 23 shuls and organisations throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Hosting a UPJ dinner at Parliament House, against the backdrop of division bells, Jewish MP Mark Dreyfus, a member of Temple Beth Israel (TBI), welcomed delegates as “a Progressive Jew and a progressive parliamentarian”.

The event was also attended by the ALP’s Michael Danby and Liberal Josh Frydenberg, with Kate Lundy, Senator for the ACT, representing Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

At the gala event, Rabbi John Levi, TBI’s emeritus rabbi, was honoured on the 50th anniversary of his smicha, and the UPJ’s Ner Tamid awards were presented.

Rabbi Levi urged the movement to remain true to its bold beginnings when TBI, its first synagogue, was founded in 1930 with the help of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ).

Havdalah and Israeli dancing were highlights of a dinner celebration at the Israeli Embassy, hosted by Ambassador Yuval Rotem.

UPJ executive director Steve Denenberg told the conference Progressive Jews “can learn from Chabad … not the values, but the modus operandi” and committed the organisation to a “flatter” structure and more grassroots initiatives.

Overseas guests included WUPJ vice chair Steve Bauman, who gave an update on his organisation’s campaign against changes to Israel’s conversion laws.
The WUPJ is seeking “a real compromise on the conversion issue”, he later told The AJN.

Shai Pinto, Jerusalem-based WUPJ vice president, mapped the renaissance of Progressive congregations in central and eastern Europe, and the upsurge in the Asia-Pacific region, with an increase of UPJ congregations from 19 to 24 in the past 12 years.

“Ours is a Judaism that does not negate the other streams but embraces them. We are the Jews of the future and the future of Judaism,” he said.

WUPJ honorary secretary Steve Breslauer spoke of project-specific fundraising, noting that people were not as prepared as in the past “to fund organisational overheads”. Mike Grabiner, WUPJ senior vice chair, spoke of demographic challenges posed by declining Jewish birth rates.

The conference featured an array of workshops. Victorian Netzer shaliach Dana Bar Zuri, UPJ social action coordinator Miriam Wallach and Rabbi Kim Ettlinger of TBI, discussed how to embrace “Generation Why: the invisible Jews”.

King David School’s Rabbi Gersh Lazarow addressed “cyber Judaism”, saying youth are identifying with their religion through social media, and described how a siddur could take the form of an iPad app.

Rabbi Orna Triguboff of Jewish Renewal in Sydney and Gabi Sar Shalom of Melbourne’s Kedem portrayed Jewish spirituality as a new take on Judaism in Australia.
At its AGM, the UPJ re-elected David Robinson of Beit Shalom in Auckland to a second term as leader.

The meeting passed resolutions supporting the Zionist Federation of Australia’s drive to combat boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, Women of the Wall against further attempts to keep the Kotel as a male precinct, and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s assistance in New Zealand after the ban on shechita.

The Australian Reform Zionist Association’s AGM elected Barbara Ford president, and committed itself to counter BDS activity in Australia, noting the attempted boycott of Seacret Dead Sea products in Adelaide.

PETER KOHN

PHOTO: Participants at the UPJ 2010 conference. Photo: Dean Ginsburg